To the editor:
Here we are, at the beginning of what looks to be yet another
record-breaking warm year and the Bush administration continues to do
nothing about global warming. Not only have they done nothing, they
have gone one step further by setting up roadblocks for those states
that are trying to do something about it.
In 2005 Maine joined with nine other states in an effort to improve air
quality and fight global warming by adopting the "clean cars" program.
This program will implement new standards for cars and light trucks.
This is especially important to Maine, considering the fact that cars
and light trucks are the No. 1 source of global warming pollution. So
what's the problem?
The problem is that the EPA is dragging its feet on giving its final
approval of the standards. This is something that is usually routine.
In the last three decades the EPA has granted California's and other
states' waiver requests more than 40 times.
Maine needs a stamp of approval from the Bush administration to
implement this important program. And the administration has been
sitting on the request — yet again catering to big oil and the auto
industry.
The Bush administration should not stand in the way of states working to put global warming solutions into action.
Jared Thurber,
Brunswick
